BOSTON – Although B.J. Penn could retire today and be remembered as one of the most accomplished and influential fighters in the history of mixed martial arts, the former champ thinks his career really is just beginning.

Penn headlines Saturday’s UFC 118 event at Boston’s TD Garden and looks to reclaim his title from Frankie Edgar, who upset “the Prodigy” in April to win the belt.

And though he won’t delude himself into thinking the loss was a godsend, Penn does think it’s made him a better and more-focused fighter.

“Honestly, Frankie beating me, I’m not going to say it’s the best thing that happened in my life, but it’s a great thing that happened in my life,” Penn told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) on Thursday. “If I would have won that day, I wouldn’t have changed anything, and I would have fallen harder later.”

Penn (15-6-1 MMA, 11-6-1 UFC) suffered a unanimous decision loss to Edgar (12-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) via scores of 50–45, 48–47 and 49–46. Edgar scored takedowns – something nearly every other opponent has struggled to do against Penn – and his stick-and-move game plan allowed him to chip away at his opponent. It wasn’t a dominating win, but it was a strategic one and resulted from the perfect game plan.

The loss, of course, was just the second of Penn’s decade-long career and his first in more than eight years at 155 pounds.

“As soon as that experience was over, I didn’t learn anything then,” he said of the Edgar defeat. “Now, looking back to where I am today, it all makes sense to me now when I look back at my career. The fool looks at today and asks, ‘What’s going on?’ And the wise man looks at yesterday and asks, ‘What happened?’ I realize how everything kind of played its way out.”

Penn didn’t hide his desire for a rematch – and a quick one, at that. He wants to put the performance behind him. He’s heard the criticism, and he wants to shut up the doubters.

“Criticism is hard to take from friends, family and strangers,” he said. “When everyone’s criticizing you, it’s hard to take. And the critics, after I lose, they wish I would roll over and die. I’m sure they don’t want to see B.J. Penn anymore, but they’re not going to stop me. They’re not going to be holding me down. I’m just going to be irritating them every time I come back better, and it’s just going to be pissing them off.”

Penn, who first joined the UFC more than nine years ago, often flourished with a minimal commitment to training. Even UFC president Dana White often has poked fun of it. And though raw talent and a quick mastery of Brazilian jiu jitsu were enough to keep Penn one of the sport’s best in the early years, MMA evolved, and the 31-year-old fighter vowed he won’t be left behind.

But that presented another problem in recent years: Penn spending too much time in the gym.

“I have a problem with over-training,” he said. “I’m a chronic over-trainer, and I’ve always got a bad rap of not training hard enough, so it made me overtrain even worse. Now, I found a perfect balance for myself.”

The new philosophy now makes him feel like a different fighter, one with a new appreciation for the sport.

“I got asked a lot of times about my six losses,” he said. “I kind of feel like that was my amateur career. There it was. It’s time to turn pro. Now, I feel I’m going to be a professional. I’m going to act like a professional. I’m going to try and be as consistent as I can, and I’ll just enjoy this ride. It’s wonderful.

“I won’t get to fight for my whole life, so I better enjoy it while it’s here.”

So of victorious at UFC 118, Penn is open to all challenges. He won’t handpick opponents, he won’t limit himself to one weight class, and – as has become the normal for many UFC champs – he won’t spend extended periods of time on the sidelines.

“When I get past Frankie Edgar, I want to fight everybody,” he said. “I’ll fight the No. 1 contender all the way to the No. 15 contender. If no one’s ready and they need more time to prepare for me, Dana, give me a welterweight fight. I don’t care.

“I just want to fight. I can’t do this forever. I’m 31 years old. I think I’m in my prime. Let’s do it now.”

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